Before
by XKeeperOfTheKeysX
Summary: What happened before Frisk? From the monster war, to the other children, to Gaster, this story will be covering all the lore of Undertale that I know of. These are all my theories, and there will be a lot. There will be very dark themes later on so be warned. This is my first Fanfiction, so feel free to review and critique.
1. Chapter 1

Mount Ebbot - Long ago.

The king stood at the peak, overlooking the countryside. His goat fur was slightly rustled by the cool morning breeze. Only a little over an hour before dawn, he sighed. He loved this mountain, particularly the golden flowers that were indigenous to the area with their unique hue. He personally believed their calming nature could only be truly appreciated at a time like this when the moonlight reflected off the dew drops that rested gently upon the petals in full bloom. Their smell, especially pungent this time of year, seemed to affect the birds as well, whose songs were peaking in musicality. The king would have given almost anything if he could just stay here, on this mountain, and bask in the beauty of the mountain for the rest of his life.

Outstretched before him were the ruins of countless monster villages and the camps of countless native tribes, who, once morning came, would succeed in finally slaughtering the rest of the few remaining monsters under his rule. The King thought of his son. Asgore was barely ten years old and he had already lost his mother. The king, of course, blamed himself, he should've seen this coming, but he knew his guilt could never compare to the amount that his son's future queen, Toriel, was piling on herself. She was only a few months younger than his son, but she had watched all of her friends and family killed in cold blood because of a childish mistake.

Of course no one blamed the Toriel, or her human friend for the situation. They were inseparable, of course, like all best friends. As a result, they traded secrets. It was fine, until the secret Toriel told the human was that she overheard her parents talking about what happens when when a monster absorbs a human soul. It never occured to Toriel that her friend might tell her father, who, just so happened to be the chief of one of the largest tribes in the area. Needless to say he wasn't exactly thrilled to have such a threat so close to his home.

The king's son was with Toriel was was in the meadow near the monster village where she lived when it happened. They were picking flowers when Toriel heard her father yelling. The two goat children ran toward the noise, only stopping when they could see the chief accompanied by a few of his warriors with spears pointed both of Toriel's parents. Asgore had to stop her from running or calling out to them. The two children stood helplessly as they watched the shouting attract more and more people and monster until the whole village had been drawn out of their houses and most of the tribe's warriors were there, forcing them into a circle. Even the children had been drug out quite forcefully. The situation had become exceedingly hostile when the Chief's daughter ran out into the mix screaming at her father in protest, standing between him and Toriel's parents. The Chief pushed his daughter aside with disgust, saying she cared more about the enemy than her own kind. Saying she needed to see how evil they really were, he shoved his spear through the heart of Toriel's mother, who gasped in pain and crumpled to the ground. The chaos that ensued was loud enough to completely bury Toriel's screams as she thrashed against Asgore's hold. Watching as her father reached for her mother, holding her in his arms she disintegrated to dust in his arms, the crowd of goat monsters readied themselves. The men protectively stood as a barrier between the humans and their families, the mother's kissed their children with watery eyes. Toriel's father's sadness turned into a blind rage, causing him to attack the chief in retaliation, only to come to the same fate as his wife, a spear, right through the heart.

Asgore practically had to drag a violently sobbing Toriel to safety.

The king griped his trident tightly. That's how the war started, and it had only gone down hill from there. He knew he shouldn't have let his wife negotiate with them. He only had himself to blame for her death, he knew better, but he let her go anyway. He was a fool to think she would return.

That was just a sliver of what brought him to where he was now, looking the battlefields he had fought on, images of the carnage. He remembered the worst of the battles, like the summer of the year prior, where the slaughter was so horrible, the dust covered the ground so thickly it looked like it was the middle of winter, and they had just gotten the heaviest snowfall of the year. It made him sick, the memory of trudging through the dust, and the sickly soft feeling walking on it brought. His eyes scanned the expanse of land, but now all he could see was the battlefields, and all of the dust that he more or less had on his hands. A voice shook him from his thoughts, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

The gravelly voice startled the king, but it didn't show as he turned to his comrade.

"Ah, Gerson. I wasn't expecting you to be up this early. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

The turtle laughed, he looked young enough, to still be in his courting years, but he had his own losses as well. He had settled down young with a nice girl, they had a daughter. Unfortunately, the war had allotted them amongst the carnage as well. His daughter was only four, he remembered her fiery hair, a trait she got from her mother, he remembered holding her small frame as she turned to dust. He would never admit to anyone how much he bawled as he held on to what he could of the ashes, "You of all people should know what I see everytime I close my eyes."

"All too well my friend."

Gerson sighed, "My question still stands, your highness."

"I didn't think it was necessary to confirm the obvious."

"I wish," Gerson sighed, "I wish there was a way to have avoided all of this."

The king nodded and rested his hand upon his shoulder, "As do all of us who remain." He turned around, scanning the view blankly. "Gerson," he inhaled deeply, "I need you do do me a favor."

"Anything."

He turned around and held out his trident with both hands, "Give this to him, watch over him," His normally steady voice cracked, "and tell him how much his mother and I loved him."

Gerson took the trident solemnly, "...Of course…"

The king turned back around, standing his ground, "You don't have much time," he could see the peak of the sun on the horizon, "Hurry, get them to the safety of the underground."

Gerson nodded, and started to walk away, before stopping to turn back to the king for a moment, "Your highness?"

"Yes?" He watched as the specks of the tribes started to gather.

"It was an honor to fight by you. You did your best. You are truly a great king."

"I hope so, Gerson," He sighed, "I hope so."


	2. Chapter 2

Years passed. After the king died above, Gerson mentored the heir and his soon to be wife, since their parents were dead, they drew from his life force instead, but since they weren't biologically tied, they aged much slower than most. Over the course of 200 years, the monsters built a civilization in the cave in which they fell. They did not expand in fear of the cold, nor were they overly confident in their young leader to deliver them to safety, even if Gerson was running the show back then. So they built a door to block out the cold, and the Royal house was build on the entrance to the passageway that lead to that door so that a monster couldn't stumble into the unknown dangers of the outside world.

Back then, the monsters lived in fear, and built traps in order to stop the humans from finding them if they ever decided to follow the monsters down into the cave and finish them off. The greatest minds were charged with the task to create obstacles simple enough for monsters, but complex enough to stump any wayward humans, luckily, it did not seem as though any humans followed them down during that time.

However after 200 years had passed, the monster population slowly restored to something resembling its old population before the massacre that the war brought on. They were outgrowing their home right as Asgore and Toriel were reaching the day they were to be wed.

Ultimately the decision was made that the new King would postpone the marriage until the monsters found their new home. Most of the monsters prepared to leave with the King, but some of the more skittish monsters did not want to leave, and stayed behind.


	3. Chapter 3

Asgore stood in front of his mirror, a young man now, in armor that was fashioned for him not a few days before. Who knew what dangers could lie out there? He had to be prepared, it was his duty to protect his people and his soon to be wife and he intended to do so. He decided to bring nothing with him, he did not want to risk anything valuable getting lost in the harsh weather. He only intended to bring one thing. He looked around his room for a moment and took it in for one last moment, not knowing how long they would be gone, or if he would ever come back. It wasn't much, a small cozy bedroom that was overwhelmingly purple with only one bed. He may have been royalty, but Gerson would never allow the two young monsters to sleep in the same bed without being wed. Asgore chuckled at the thought, and realized his voice already very similar to his late father's, booming, yet gentle. The thought of his father reminded him why he was in here. He looked at his dresser below him and sighed deeply to himself, hands shaking slightly as he hesitated opening it.

It was silly really, how he avoided looking at it for so long. After the house was build he put it in the top drawer and never was able to open it again. He simply couldn't. Perhaps it was because he didn't feel worthy. Perhaps it was because the memory of his father hurt him too much. Perhaps it was both.

He exhaled deeply, and pulled the draw open by its brass handle and stared for a moment at the trident that sat inside covered in a layer of dust. He wondered to himself if this is what it would look like now if his father had died with it in his hands instead of simply submitting to the human. Asgore's stomach turned as he tried to repress the thought as he picked up his father's trident, his hands still shaking. With a single breath he blew the dust off of it and looked over it for a moment.

"You finally opened it I see," Toriel's whispered mostly to herself, her voice was soft, still slightly youthful, but mature nonetheless. Asgore wasn't surprised she had entered without a noise, she had tended to do that from time to time. He slowly turned to her, holding it helplessly in his hands.

"I'm not sure if-" he whispered back, words trailing off. Toriel nodded slowly, understanding what he meant, and she slowly walked over to him and rested her hand on his cheek.

"I know," she looked up at him, "I'm scared too and so are they, but all we can do is our best. You're their King, they will look up to you one day, but you have to show them you can lead, and today is that day."

Asgore sighed, "You're right, as always, dear."

Toriel smiled to herself, "I know. Now, are you ready."

Asgore stared at her her a minute and stood tall, resting the bottom of the trident on the ground as if it were a staff. Toriel nodded and made her way to the door, "I'll see you down there, hurry though, everyone is waiting."

When the door closed, Asgore considered his surroundings for a moment, he was more than scared, he was terrified, but Toriel was right, he couldn't let it show. He grabbed his cloak off of the hanger, it swamped him but made him very Royal he considered as he looked at himself in the mirror. He stood tall now as he had done with Toriel. A small smile grew on his face as he left the room. He looked like his father.


	4. Chapter 4

Monsters filled the corridor beneath the Royal house, and impatient and nervous murmurs filled the air. Toriel shot a nervous glance at Gerson as the restless monsters became more boisterous.

"What are we waiting on?" One shouted.

"Is the King even coming?" Another shouted.

"Probably not" a elderly vegetoid shouted in response, "The _coward_ is just a child, he has no business leading anyway!"

"Yeah, he's probably staying in the safety of his home and sending us all out to die!"

"No he's not he's just-" Toriel started trying to calm them down.

"Oh shut up! What do you know? Nothing, you're just as much as a coward as he is, but at least you bothered to show up!" The vegetoid yelled again.

"Excuse me?" Toriel's voice raised, "That is no way to talk to you future-"

"Queen?" The vegetoid cackled, "You have no mo-"

Gerson opened his mouth to quell the crowd but before he could, a booming voice overed the hall, "That is _ENOUGH!"_

The monsters immediately silenced and shifted to either side as Asgore and proudly made his way to the door. Once he got there he turned to face his people, he cleared his throat, "Erm, excuse me for that, and for keeping you waiting, I had a few loose ends to tie up before we could leave."

"Took you long enough!" yelled the vegetoid. Gerson opened his mouth to tell the monster off, but the King silenced him with a hand motion, earning a satisfied look from Gerson as he leaned back on his old hammer.

"Oh I forgot about you for a moment," Asgore's face was serious, but his voice was heavily laced with sarcasm, "Since you believe so heavily that I'm sending you out to die, you won't object to staying behind then, will you? Unless you want to be the first person out the door, wear this crown, and be responsible for whatever we have to face out there and likely be the first one to die, cause if that's the case I'll gladly step down. It's your choice of course."

The vegetoid scoffed and turned around, making his way back to the city, "Well I never! Doesn't matter to me though, only a fool would follow that imbecile."

Asgore did not flinch as the vegetoid left, but simply stated, "Anyone else who has the same view is offered the same choice, stay behind or take charge, but if I hear one word against my wife and your future queen, regardless of how far we make it, I will send you back here with nothing more than your ration of food. Now are there any takers?"

The room was quiet, Asgore nodded, "That's what I thought."

He turned around facing the door, glancing at Toriel, who was suppressing a laugh, but gave him a reassuring look, and then to Gerson, who had a smug, yet proud smile on his face. With that, Asgore pushed open the door to the Underground as a chilly gust of wind and snow swept its way through the corridor.

Under his breath Asgore muttered, "This is going to be harder than I thought."


End file.
